Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-02

The terrible disaster at the Gould Il Curry
mine was yesterday the absorbing topic on
Pine street and among not only those
directly interested in mining matters but
the public generally The following ac-
count was written by an eyewitness of the
distressing affair, and reached the hands of
President Wells on Thursday morning:
The fire broke out about Is minutes after
o'clock in the evening. At the time both
of the cages were down the shaft. As
approached the mouth of the Shaft the
black flames rolled up with great fury and
soon filled the hoi ting works. The nc
ment drew near the shaft | detected the
smoke that came from the burning giant
powder
BOXES OF GIANT POWDER.
There were several boxes of this powder
on the 1900 foot level. At that moment
some one on the S00-ioot level rang to
hoist the cage from that point. George
was on the cage when it came up. He
reported that the fire was below the S00-
foot station, and that they could get no
further down the shaft on account of the
dense smoke.
Larry Rignali was the station tender on
the north compartment of the Bonner
shaft. He got on board the north cage
and signaled to John McLane, the engineer,
W lOMcl Allu W the lOOp-IOOl leNel ~
rescue the six men that were working
there. AT this time the black smoke was
rolling out of the mouth of the shaft, and
when the brave Larry said drop her fast -
into that dark place, il looked like suicide
When Larry got below the !, 300-foot level
he shot down into blaze of fire. AS he
expressed 1t, " 1t was one blaze of many
colored lights" He jumped for the bell
rope and tried to stop the cage. The shaft
was one mass of fire. After few efforts
the signal rang and the cage stopped. He
rang to raise to the 1300-toot level. The
engineer understood his signals and ran
him up to the 1300-foot level, where he
found seven men at the station.
sUFFoCATING HEAT.
These men were working on the 1900
foot level, and were nearly suffocated with
the heat. The boys had discovered the fire
and were waiting, cropping and crawling on
the floor of the station. They all got on
board the cage and were hoisted with light
ming speed to the surface. The smoke in
the hoisting-works had grown SO dense
that the engineer, John McLane, could not
see three feet in front of him. The indi-
Gator showing the position of the cage as il
goes up and down in the shaft was totally
obscured by the thick, sickening smoke
tudl OuI vi Tie SudIt. 1QeTe was
the engineer with the throttle of the engine
pulled wide open, eight fainting men on
the cage, the hosting works filled with
binding smoke, the indicator totally OBJ
scured. The alarm bell, showing the cage
is within 200 feet of the surface, is rung.
In thirty seconds more the cage will be in
the sleeves, with death to all on board.
To stop is suffocation. The brave engineer
crawled on his hands and knees to the in
dicator. The touch of his fingers on the
face of the dial tells him what his eyes
cannot. AT the exact time he springs to
his lever and shuts off steam, just as the
cage reaches the level of the collar of the
shaft. The eight men were reeling from
the influence of the deadly gas-one min
ute longer and not one man of the eight
on the cage would have been alive. With
out Larry" and Johnnie" not man of
the 1300-foot crew would be alive to-day.
As soon as the 1300-foot men got off the
cage, Mr.. Lyman, the Superintendent, sent
the north cage down to the 1500-foot
DEADLY SMOKE AND GAS.
We sent it empty. for no living human
being could live in that smoke and gas. In
a few minutes we heard eight bells, which
foot level" We had already sent it, and
the rope showed it must be in that neigh
borhood. Again came the eight-bell sig
nal, Send down the cage to the 1500-foot."
Ny God how that signal sounded! We
all knew some poor soul was cropping and
feeling for something that could not come.
The cage could not get through to the 1900
foct-there was some interruption. The
Land that rang that bell will never live to
tell the anguish of the soul that guided it
in signaling. 1t begged for cage that
never could come. The case was beyond
human power. No mining man within
hearing distance of the bell could mistake
the terrible significance of the eight sig
nails" Send down the cage to the 1900
foot" After few minutes the cage was
drawn up to the surface empty. Then two
steel drifts were tied together so as to make
a noise in the cage as they went down.
We hoped this noise from the conclusion
of the two drills would attract attention
and tell them the cage was at the 1900 sta
ton.
FATAL DELAY.
The boys on the $50 and 300-foot levels
did not get out alive. They could have
come out the long tunnel if they had been
a little quicker. The smoke in the long
tunnel rolled along as fast as man could
run. 1t was so thick that man could go
into the tunnel but few feet After the
smoke diminished we got in the tunnel
and got the men out. There was a little
life in Bob Trounce and Joncey Morgan,
but their hearts had ceased to beat.
Meantime the 600-ioot boys got out
through the Savage. They said they
smelled the smoke and thought it was on
the 600 station from the amount of smoke
They came through into the Savage drifts
the thick, black smoke rolling as fast as
man could run, and it was very near over
taking them. 1t was a close hard game for
the boys, but they beat it.
AT THE BONNER SHAFT
The smoke in the hosting works at the
Bonner shaft was terrible. We had to
keep three men to watch the fireman, as he
was liable to be overcome at any moment
with this terrible treacherous gas. The
engineers were in the same way. We also
kept relay of five men TO keep their hands
on the bell-rope of the north cage to feel
any signals from below.
When the alarm was given the air CON-
pressor was started at half-past o'clock.
and the gauge on the engine showed pres
sure of eighty pounds to the inch, and run
ming very slow. This showed that the men
below were not taking air. at fifteen min
utes to 9 o'clock there was decided change
in the pressure. Either the imprisoned
men on the 1500-foot level opened the
valve to give themselves air, or the two
pipe broke. The pressure,
which, had been eighty pounds. went down
to thirty-five pounds, and the
speed increased at once to sixty strokes to
the minute 1t has remained there with
out change since that time. At o'clock
that night the imprisoned men. on the 1900
foot level gave distinct raps on the rock.
They were heard very distinctly by the
men in the rescue drift that Patton is send
ing through from the Consolidate Virginia
side. Without the air-pipe those men
could not have lived two hours. Now we
know that four and one-half hours after
the calamity the men were living and did
have strength enough to signal to the men
in the rescue drift. This shows that there
is small chance for the men to be alive.
Women suffrage has been Endorsed by
the Ohio Prohibition Convention.